Are we taking the Lord with Us Everywhere We go, or only when We Need him—R Fritz
Do we forget or do we not want God with us when we want to have fun or go on vacation or take a few days off. These are the times when we need God the most, when Satan knows we are letting our guard down and he can make headway into our life. We must remember our enemy wants to destroy us and we forget that. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” We are talking about a spiritual devour. Let’s look at another verse about our enemy. John 10:10 says and this is Jesus speaking “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” We need the Holy Spirit to speak out the schemes that Satan is planning, and we need the Holy Spirit more when we let down our guard. It is the times we think we are safe and having a good time when we do not need God with the results to come later when we do not expect them. I learned many years ago why we need to take God with us. To those that have the Holy Spirit, he lives in us we just do our own thing and disregard the Holy Spirit. It does not show respect to the Holy Spirit, and we might not give our attitude a second thought. Then we wonder why our relationship with the Holy Spirit needs repair. There is no vacation from God. I enjoy my time with the Holy Spirit by myself which is where our relationship is grown. Our relationship with the Holy Spirit always depends on us.
I just came back from a hunting trip in a different state 650 miles away. Before I went, I had to deal with people who had gone with me for years not being able to go. I felt I was to ask a couple of other people which wanted to go but issues came up, so I was left with myself and asked the Holy Spirit if I was supposed to go with somebody to show them to me as I was getting ready to go by myself and two dogs. At the same time, I was hearing about death, so I was asking God what was going on as I did not want my family to have to deal with death miles away. I found out the death was not part of God’s plan for me; it was the plan from my enemy Satan. My vacation with the Holy Spirit was getting two birds and asking the Holy Spirit how I was going to get the third bird. I was tired after walking five miles in the grass. I started to drive then was tired enough to stop on the road and take a nap for a few minutes then drove slow down a road where I spotted a bird in some grass by the road where I shot a bird, my limit for the day. When I spoke about roads, this was a no maintenance road where it said advise not to proceed down road. I trusted the Lord and went where I was supposed to go. This happened for three days when I got two birds and saw many each day after that. One afternoon after a bad start I asked a lady if I could hunt on her land, she said “yes.” She also invited me to come into her house for a cup of coffee as I replied, “I needed to get going.” After I left, I knew I had made a mistake. I started hunting and my dogs would not listen to me; they hunted on their own as I was angry because they would not listen and were staying a long way away from me. The dogs knew I was angry and stayed away. What God showed me was the dogs were the world doing what they wanted with no cares then my anger was how God feels about disobedience, but the answer was to love the people of the world and that was how my dogs would come back to obeying me and did. After I left there, I got my two birds later that day. Romans 11:30-32 says “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief (disobedience): Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they may obtain mercy. For God had concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.” Mercy is given by God even though we do not deserve it. Just like my dogs did not deserve mercy I gave them, it was because that is what God show me to do.
Mercy is what we get from God when we disobey him. Mercy comes from God to whom or when he decides to give it out. Mercy and grace are God’s character. Why does God show mercy and grace? It is because he loves us. We need to understand that showing us mercy we should look at what we have done and thanking God for no consequences. We must understand that mercy now could change if we do not change our behavior or actions. In other words, our disobedience over time will have consequences. John 14:15-17 says “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” We have the Holy Spirit who lives in us to remind us of all things if we surrender our will every day. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through our thoughts. We can choose to listen to and hear the Holy Spirit and obey or we can do what we want. Mercy comes until God decides to go down a different road with us, then comes possible consequences.
The end of my hunting trip was paying for where I stayed. I asked the homeowner how much I owed him. He had told me when I got there that I should pay ten dollars a day more because I was by myself. He also said to me “I suppose you are angry about that.” I said nothing, not even thinking about it because I gave it to God to deal with. When I asked how much I owed he said nothing, so I said, “I will pay you what we agreed to plus half what extra you wanted plus ten dollars for your granddaughter being a blessing from God.” He was very thankful for me giving ten dollars to his granddaughter.
I thank God every day for what he does for me. God made my hunting trip better than I could have done myself. I left and returned home safely and learned another lesson. Over the years going on vacation brought wisdom through walking through situations I was put through. Let’s take the Holy Spirit with us and be the blessing for somebody else. God Bless.
